Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 350
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * * **Eany and Meany. Maggott's slugs. * ** * Villains: * **Erik the Red's robots. * * ** ** ** . Possessed by Malice. ** ** ** ** Other Characters: * Bounty Hunters ** ** * * ** * * * . Gambit's aunt. * Decapitated head. * * * * * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * * . ** . The Titan goddess of Justice, often depicted as blind or blindfolded. * * Charlton Heston * * * * * * * Locations: * ** * **The base of Erik the Red. * ** *** **** * Items: * * Vehicles: * | Notes = *This issue revisits the events of the Mutant Massacre crossover from 1986-1987 and retcons additional scenes and a new origin for the Marauders. That they were agents of Mr. Sinister was established following the Massacre, since Sinister only debuted in 1987. That Gambit was the man who gathered the Marauders and recruited the individual members was previously unknown, since Gambit debuted in 1990. Various hints to an involvement of Gambit with Sinister and his agents were previously given, but remained cryptic until this issue. *Archangel blames Gambit and the Marauders for indirectly causing several negative events in his life. His original organic wings were severely damaged by the Marauders during the Mutant Massacre. What remained of his wings was amputated in X-Factor Vol 1 14 (March, 1987), leaving Warren in a suicidal mood. He was shortly after captured by Apocalypse. He was given a new set of bio-metallic wings, a blue skin, and a reprogrammed personality as a killer and agent of Apocalypse. While he eventually regained his free will, some of the changes in his physiology and life were permanent. *The retcon about Gambit helping the Marauders locate and infiltrate the Alley of the Morlocks partly contradicts the original story. In Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 210 (October, 1986), at least part of the Marauders does not know where the Alley is and has to follow a female Morlock by the name of Tommy in order to find out. Fan theories and later retcons, attempting to reconcile the two stories, suggest that the Marauders were divided into smaller groups and each made their own way into the Alley. The group led in by Gambit certainly included Sabretooth, but the identities of the others are unclear. *There is a contradiction between the narration of Psylocke's flashback and the art that accompanies it. Psylocke names Arclight among the Marauders recruited by Gambit, but the art does not depict Arclight. The one depicted is Malice possessing the body of Polaris. This is probably an error. Malice's possession of Polaris started in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 219 (July, 1987). That was several issues following the Mutant Massacre, instead of preceding it. *Erik the Red notes that the names of most victims of the Mutant Massacre are unknown but names two of them as Prism (misspelled "Prizm") and Scaleface. The accompanying statues visually match the characters but there is an obvious error as neither one was a victim of this Massacre. **Prism did die in the Massacre, but not as a Morlock. He was a member of the Marauders and was killed by Marvel Girl in X-Factor Vol 1 10 (November, 1986). Also mourning him is a bit strange, because Mr. Sinister has since revived him a number of times. **Scaleface was indeed a Morlock but the Marauders failed to kill her. She was among the initial survivors of the Massacre but was killed by the human police in X-Factor Vol 1 11 (December, 1986). *The issue repeatedly states that by the time Gambit started working with Nathaniel Essex, his wife Belladonna was dead. It is unclear to what event this is referring. According to the origin story given in X-Men Vol 2 8 (May, 1992), the couple's marriage was an effort to ensure peace between the Assassins Guild and the Thieves Guild. An unnamed brother of Belladonna, later identified as Julien Boudreaux, was against the marriage and challenged Remy into a duel. Remy killed his brother-in-law in self-defense, and the Clans decided to exile him to avoid further conflict. Gambit separated with Beladonna when she was very much alive and it is unknown what kind of "death" could have befallen her. She was still alive when they next met in 1992. *The two statues of the fallen, one masculine and one feminine, that Psylocke encounters are never identified by name. However a few internet sites do make educated guesses. **The masculine figure has a thunderbird emblem on his uniform. He is probably Thunderbird/John Proudstar, a deceased member of the X-Men. **The feminine form wears a long dress, slit on both sides. This is reminiscent of the original uniform worn by Blink of Earth-295 (the Age of Apocalypse reality). The artist probably confused this Blink with her Earth-616 counterpart, Blink, a supposedly deceased prospective member of Generation X. Neither of the two Blinks was actually deceased and both went on to further appearances. *Besides revealing the guilty past of Gambit, the other key event of the issue is the return of Magneto, though his identity is kept secret until the finale. This was a surprise at the time of publication, as Joseph was supposed to be an amnesiac Magneto. The issue introduces a mystery with two versions of Magneto running around. It was later revealed that the real Magneto, who was in a catatonic state when last seen, was healed by Astra. While Joseph is a clone of Magneto created by Astra. *Magneto is the third person to use the Erik the Red identity. The first was Scott Summers and the second was Davan Shakari. He is the only one of the three of them to be actually called "Erik" in his civilian identity, as his real name at the time of publication was supposed to be "Erik Magnus Lehnsherr". *Magneto decides to keep the Erik the Red armor, which he finds ridiculous, in prospect of reusing the identity. This never really happened. The only person who has kept reusing the identity is Davan Shakari, though he rarely makes any modern-day appearances. *In this issue, Gambit receives a vial as payment by Mr. Sinister. The contents of the vial were not revealed. An explanation was given by writer Fabian Nicieza in Gambit Vol 3 (1999-2001) which fleshes out Gambit's history. After leaving the Thieves Guild, Gambit's energy powers continued to grow and reached a point where he could no longer control them. He needed brain surgery to reduce his powers to a manageable level, and turned to Nathaniel Essex for help. Essex removed part of his brain and kept it as a genetic sample. The vial contained the sample, which Gambit did not trust in Essex's hands. *The underage Morlock girl that Gambit rescued from the Marauders is obviously Sarah, later known as "Marrow". The flashback of this issue is one of her earliest chronological appearances and precedes her debut in 1994. Gambit does not know her name and it is unclear if she knows his. She technically owes her life to Gambit, though the characters have had minimal interaction over the years. *Maggott happily greets Joseph as "Magneto" and also recognizes the real identity of Erik the Red, though he is clearly confused at seeing two Magnetos. He trusts Magneto either way. The explanation of this trust was given in Maggott's origin story in X-Men Vol 2 76 (June, 1998). There Magneto saves the life of a young Maggott, rescues Maggott's family and hometown, helps Maggott give "birth" to Eany and Meany, and explains to Maggott what being a mutant means. *Psylocke has access to Gambit's memories of the Marauders, because the two X-Men mind-linked in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 324 (September, 1995). He considered killing her to protect his secrets in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 330 (March, 1996), though he apparently decided against it. In this issue, Gambit claims that his decision not to kill Psylocke proves that he is not a villain. *It is only Rogue in this issue that decides to kick Gambit out of the X-Men and leave him stranded in Antarctica. The rest of the X-Men are not consulted. Fans of the time were not happy with the decision or her characterization, and felt that she was effectively trying to kill Gambit. Later issues partly absolve her or murderous intent, hinting that she had not only absorbed Gambit's memories and powers. She had apparently also absorbed Gambit's self-incriminating guilt and his intense self-loathing, making her hate the man with a passion. *Nearly every character in this issue managed to escape the collapsing building and survive, though the means of their escape were mostly explained or hinted at in other issues. The major exceptions are Grovel and Spat who were mostly forgotten about by subsequent writers, and so if they escaped was never explained. A subsequent adventure of Gambit has revealed that Spat is still alive and that Remy found a way to prevent her from further aging backwards. *This issue largely concludes the storyline of the starfaring X-Men introduced in #341. This is the last issue of the series to feature the regular cast introduced in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 341 (February, 1997), while an entirely different cast appeared in X-Men Vol 2. Following this issue, both series start featuring the same cast. | Trivia = *This issue has 37 pages of story because it was supposed to be a landmark issue of the series, with additional dialogue, artwork, and subplots. *This issue only credits Steven T. Seagle as its writer, but departing writer Scott Lobdell is considered an uncredited co-plotter. The Gambit storyline that Lobdell has been advancing for several issues concludes in #350, with Lobdell's clues to Gambit's past being revealed in full. *This issue marks the first issue of the series credited to Steven T. Seagle as a writer. Seagle had worked in comic books since the late 1980s, but his highest profile work before this issue was a long run (57 issues) in the Sandman Mystery Theatre by Vertigo. * Steven T. Seagle was the main writer of the Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 series from issue #350 to #365 (December, 1997-February, 1999). He wrote 15 regular issues and no annual. He replaced Scott Lobdell as main writer and was himself replaced by Alan Davis (with Fabian Nicieza as Davis' initial co-writer). *This is the last issue of the Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 series where Joe Madureira served as an artist or co-artist. Madureira had a relatively lengthy run in the title and was credited as an artist in issues #312-313 (May-June, 1994), #316-317 (September-October, 1994), #325-326 (October-November, 1995), #328-330 (January-March, 1996), #332 (May, 1996), #334-338 (July-November, 1996), #340-343 (January-April, 1997), #345-348 (June-October, 1997), and #350 (December, 1997). *Departing artist Joe Madureira is known for combining Western comic book influences with aspects of Japanese manga. He is credited with helping popularize this blend in mainstream American comics. He is also considered one of the most recognizable and influential X-Men-related artists of the 1990s, though he has his detractors. *The Yorick-relevant monologue which the Beast performs with the decapitated head of Nanny derives from the theatrical play "Hamlet" (written between 1599 and 1602) by William Shakespeare. In the play, the protagonist Hamlet sees a gravedigger exhume the skeletal remains of a male human. He discovers that a skull is all that remains of the court jester Yorick. He follows this with a monologue about his memories of the beloved jester of his childhood and how the grim sight of the skull affects him. The theme of the scene is mortality. It was part of a then-popular depiction of mortality, which combined scenes of life with symbols and reminders of the inevitable death of all mortals. Such depiction are usually described with the Latin phrase "memento mori" ("remember that you can die"). | Recommended = | Links = * plot summary at uncannyxmen.net }}